Stillwater Sasquatch video arouses skepticism

A video purporting to show an auburn-haired Sasquatch tromping through the woods north of Stillwater is causing a buzz among those fascinated by the ever-elusive Elvis of the wildlife world.

Like every video claiming to be that of the giant woodland creature also known as Bigfoot, the clip is brief, jiggly and out-of-focus. It was shot, according to the YouTube posting, by an anonymous farmer with his newfangled iPhone while on his usual evening walk with his wife. According to the farmer, the couple thought they'd scared a deer until they heard some "low, odd-sounding grunting" and fired up the gizmo.

The narrator, also anonymous, said the farmer posted the video, but didn't want to pursue it any further when "he realized this was serious." In the narrator's analysis, he says the film shows "a wonderful example of how adept Sasquatch are at hiding and moving through thick brush."

Response is mixed. Some share the narrator's apparent enthusiasm, but even Sasquatch believers (more than 16,000 have viewed the video in two weeks) have voiced skepticism. Several noted that the farmer does not seem particularly alarmed at what he is seeing -- although men of Norwegian extraction have been known to make low, odd-sounding grunts themselves at emotional moments.

And on the Bigfoot Facebook page (was there any doubt?), some wonder why the crafty creature -- not far from the suburbs -- has such a nonchalant attitude in walking past the befuddled couple.